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ABORIGINAL LANDS AMENDMENT (WYBALENNA) BILL 1999 (No. 13)

Second Reading

Mr JIM BACON (Denison - Premier) - It is with a sense of great pride and personal pleasure that I move -

That the bill be now read the second time.

The Aboriginal Lands Amendment (Wybalenna) Bill 1999 will transfer titles of the Wybalenna Historic Site, the Settlement Point Cemetery and the Wybalenna Chapel to the Aboriginal Lands Council of Tasmania.

This legislation is a demonstration of the ongoing reconciliation process that has been building new and stronger relationships between Aboriginal people and the broader Tasmanian community. Relationships which will heal the pain of the past, recognise the injustices that might occur into the present, and act to ensure equity, access and respect for Tasmania's Aboriginal people and their culture. Relationships that will be further developed and maintained.

The passing of this legislation will see the end of an issue that has divided our whole community for over 160 years. Wybalenna is an important historical site for all the community, but particularly for the Aboriginal people of our islands for whom it can truly be called a sacred site.

Wybalenna ranks in importance with Risdon and the Oyster Cove sites which had ownership vested in the Aboriginal community on 6 December 1995. It is a sacred site which lives in the memories of Tasmania's Aborigines.

Wybalenna, on Flinders Island, is the site where Aborigines rounded up by George Augustus Robinson in the 1830s were finally housed after being moved around several of the islands in the Furneaux group. Here the Tasmanian Government of the day built a model settlement, consisting of a single-storey brick barracks for the Aborigines, a chapel, hospital barracks for the military and convict workmen, and houses for the commandant, chaplain and the medical officer.

Tasmanian Aborigines captured on the mainland were incarcerated at Wybalenna from 1833-1847. Here the Aborigines were expected to divest themselves of their own culture, to learn the customs and habits of white society and become small farmers or agricultural labourers.

The Aborigines resisted the program to make them 'just like white people' by continuing ceremonial dancing, wearing ochre, engaging in hunting and mutton-birding to supplement their meagre daily rations, absconding, bearing children and defying their European captors. They also sold shell necklaces and salted mutton-birds. By 1840 the government considered the Aborigines beyond redemption, cut back their rations and waited for them to die out.

Over 250 Aborigines were sent to Wybalenna between 1833 and 1847 and about twenty children were born there. Due to the poor conditions some 200 died. By 1847 only 47 remained. The majority of the deceased were interred in the Settlement Point Cemetery. Today Aboriginal people from all round Tasmania can trace their ancestry to people buried at Wybalenna.

In 1847 the settlement on Flinders Island was closed down and the sad remnants of the original community, now numbering only 47, were taken back to Van Diemens Land to a reserve at Oyster Cove. Life at Oyster Cove was depressing. The meaning and purpose of their existence gone, they resorted to alcohol, perhaps to kill the pain. By 1855 only sixteen were left. To the end the remnants of the group were to be exploited and abused. Sailors and sawyers raided the camp to rape the women and steal what they could.

Between 1847 and 1900, Wybalenna was intermittently leased for farming and grazing. The Aboriginal community on Cape Barren Island sometimes visited Wybalenna, out of respect for their dead relatives, but always resisted suggestions that they should live there.

In 1900 the commandant's house was rebuilt as a farm house, the chapel used as a shearing shed, and some bricks from the collapsed Aboriginal terrace sold off. The Morton family bought 243 hectares in the 1920s and farmed it until the late 1970s. The National Trust of Australia (Tasmania) received the title for the chapel from Mr Tom Morton in November 1972.

Restoration of the chapel was completed by the Flinders Island branch of the National Trust and reopened on 9 June 1974 as 'a memorial to the lost race of Tasmanian Aborigines'. The National Parks and Wildlife Service acquired 120.4 hectares from Mr Morton, as a historic reserve in 1977. These contributions by the Morton family and the Flinders Island branch of the National Trust are examples of the assistance given by the non-Aboriginal community in the preservation of the Aboriginal and European heritage of Flinders Island.

This State Reserve Historic Site - under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, covers an area of 138 hectares to low water mark. A cemetery reserve adjoins the historic site. Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people are buried in the cemetery, which is still in use. It should also be noted that a number of non-Aboriginal people still living wish to be buried there. There is strong Aboriginal interest and attachment to the cemetery as the remains of more than 110 Tasmanian Aborigines are buried in the area.

A small area around the chapel was owned freehold by the National Trust of Australia, having been purchased using National Estate funds in 1979. This has now been surrendered to the Crown.

This means there are two titles that make up the Wybalenna site, one for the chapel area and another for the remaining area of the site. Both titles are held by the Crown and the site managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal community believes that ownership of the site should be vested in them to manage. It is interesting to note that the first petition calling for recognition of land rights for Aboriginal people was from Wybalenna in 1845, to enable them to gain independence.

In more recent times, the handing back of Wybalenna is something that the Aboriginal community and, in particular, Aboriginal elders such as Ida West and the late Ruby Roughley, have been wishing and fighting for over a number of years. Most of us here have often heard Auntie Ida say that she wanted Wybalenna back before she dies. That has happened. Auntie Ida and Ruby were both present at the recent announcement of my Government's intention to hand Wybalenna back. Sadly, Ruby has since passed away.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal community want to ensure their involvement in the maintenance of the graves of their ancestors. Remembrance ceremonies have been held at Wybalenna and the area remains spiritually important and highly significant to the Aboriginal community.

For the contemporary Aboriginal community, Wybalenna is the place where their people were sent to die after they had been rounded up on the Tasmanian mainland. They admire their ancestors' attempts to survive the institutionalised environment. They see it as a concentration camp, as a place that needs to be preserved to show future generations the consequences of cultural conflict.

What happened at Wybalenna should never have occurred. It was a site of genocide. I could have selected other words to describe this site, but they would not have been true or reflective of what really happened. Whilst we cannot change history and what occurred at Wybalenna, we can attempt to redress past injustices.

Knowing its history, we can understand why Wybalenna remains spiritually important and highly significant to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and how it has shaped today's Aboriginal community. These reasons were a major influence on my Government's decision to give a commitment to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community that Wybalenna will be handed back to its rightful owners, the Aboriginal people themselves.

There is much truth in the adage that actions speak louder than words, but if the true spirit of reconciliation is to be finally achieved, proper action can only result from words; from ongoing consultation with the Aboriginal community. The Government has acted quickly and comprehensively on the Wybalenna issue.

I must acknowledge the work and achievements of all parties leading to this point. Consultations have progressed for several years with Mayor Lynn Mason who I am delighted to see here today and other members of the Flinders Island Council; members of the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association, including Michael Graham, Alma Stackhouse and the late Ruby Roughley; and Darrell West and Clyde Mansell from the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. My colleagues, John White and Michael Aird, have made valuable contributions in this area over a number of years and I extend my thanks to them.

I also recognise the role played by members of former governments, particularly Ray Groom and Denise Swan. Without all these efforts it would not have been possible to be in the position today where the Government is able to hand back Wybalenna to the Aboriginal community of Tasmania.

As Premier I have been keen to facilitate a positive outcome to the Wybalenna site issue as soon as possible. Now clearly it is difficult, in fact sometimes impossible, to gain consensus from all parties to a proposal of such historic, social and legal importance. However, I think all can be content with what has been decided.

The Government has determined that the best and most effective approach is to return Wybalenna to Aboriginal ownership in whole. It will do so mindful of the expressions and desires of all the parties and with the intention of ensuring that the site remains protected and preserved.

There are no perfect answers to all the questions raised regarding this issue, or absolute certainties about the process or the outcomes. But it is with this awareness that the Government decided to proceed with legislation for the return of Wybalenna to the Aboriginal community in the following way: while the interests of Flinders Council and the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association in these areas are sincerely recognised, for the purpose of consistency and other practical considerations, the Wybalenna Historic Site, the Settlement Point Cemetery and the Wybalenna Chapel titles will be transferred from the Crown to the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. These titles are to be added to the Aboriginal Lands Act 1995 through an amendment to Schedule 3 of the act. The status of the State Reserve (Historic Site) will be revoked and all three sites will be known and referred to as Wybalenna.

It has been agreed by an exchange of letters between the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania and the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association that local management of the Wybalenna Historic Site, including the chapel and the cemetery, will be given to the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association and managed on a day-to-day basis by a local management committee.

The Flinders Island Aboriginal Association has agreed to include Flinders Council representatives on the local management committee in line with the heads of agreement signed on the 15 November 1996 between the Municipality of Flinders and the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association. The local management committee will act as a liaison and communication body between all the interested parties. This decision recognises genuine reconciliation and the power of cooperation.

There will be continued guaranteed access to the cemetery through the Wybalenna Historic Site in line with the current by-laws of the Flinders Council, from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. Existing public road and foot access to private property at Settlement Point and crown land at Port Davies will also be guaranteed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as defined in Map CPR 4807 of the Central Plan Register.

There will be guaranteed access along the coastlines of Wybalenna at the southern end of Settlement Beach and the northern end of Cave Beach. Access to these areas of coastline will be by foot traffic only and to a distance of 15 metres above the high water mark. The rights of public access are defined in Map CPR 4807 of the Central Plan Register. The reservation of 15 metres for public access is consistent with section 57(b) of the Crown Lands Act 1976.
The future maintenance, management and control of the cemetery will be outlined in the regulations to the act. The regulations will be consistent with the current Flinders Council, Cemeteries By-Law No. 2 of 1997 and the relevant provisions of the Local Government (Building and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993.

The cemetery will be closed for the purchase of plots, twelve months after the Aboriginal Lands Amendment (Wybalenna) Bill 1999 has been proclaimed. This will allow the community on Flinders Island to apply to the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania for an exclusive right of burial, on the basis of plot availability. Once granted, the right of burial will not be transferable. All plots in the cemetery - those existing and those purchased under the twelve-month rule - will be managed and protected under the act. The area of the cemetery where an exclusive right of burial may be granted is outlined in Map CPR 4806 of the Central Plan Register.

I agree absolutely with Professor Henry Reynolds when he has argued that my government and preceding Tasmanian governments are the direct successors of the colonial governors of the 1830s and we have a responsibility to rectify past injustices. Ways of achieving this include handing back the land, but it does not stop there. We all have an obligation and that obligation can be somewhat fulfilled through the reconciliation process.

My Government sees what we are doing here today as a strengthening of our relationship with the Aboriginal community. We have an ongoing commitment to dialogue with the Aboriginal community. To this end I have set up a working party chaired by Mr Richard Bingham, Secretary, Department of Justice and Industrial Relations, to negotiate with the Aboriginal community on a number of issues, including the return of other land.

As I am sure you would agree, reconciliation is a process whereby past grievances are addressed and a new and solid foundation for future relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Tasmanians is laid. It is a process to which my Government is fully committed, and which can be demonstrated by its undertaking to return to the Aboriginal community Wybalenna, an area of land which is an integral part of the past, present and future history of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania.

One other specific parliamentary action stands out in the minds of all Tasmanians and demonstrates the Parliament's commitment to reconciliation. This was the enactment of the historic Aboriginal Lands Act 1995 which saw the freehold return of twelve parcels of land to the Aboriginal community. Again the legislation was only enacted after lengthy and comprehensive consultation with the Aboriginal community. The return of the lands was a tangible demonstration of the then Government's recognition of the rights of the State's Aborigines to practice their culture, and to share ownership in the sovereign lands of Tasmania. The return of the Wybalenna site is an opportunity for Tasmania to show the rest of Australia that the way forward to achieving lasting reconciliation is to first recognise the right of Aboriginal people to own, protect and manage cultural and historical sites.

In the return of Wybalenna, we can ensure that not only will we foster an increased sense of pride, dignity and self-esteem within the State's Aboriginal people but in the long term we can ensure that the proper appreciation of Aboriginal culture and heritage will benefit the whole of the Tasmanian community.

We now have the opportunity to demonstrate the goodwill of all parties, and achieve a just and proper outcome by those committed to reconciliation and the return of Wybalenna to the Aboriginal community. The spirit of reconciliation allows us to acknowledge, and share, the contributions of all parties. Wybalenna is also an important site to non-Aborigines and that importance needs to be demonstrated by an agreed method of acknowledgment.

This act will enable Aborigines and non-Aborigines to work together on an ongoing basis to advance reconciliation and the generosity of spirit being forged, and to work towards the continued economic growth and social improvement of the Flinders Island community as a whole.

I would like to take this opportunity to again pay special tribute to all those parties that have been involved in the negotiations and discussions over the last several years. Over this period they have shown an openness and generosity which makes this legislation possible. I would also like to thank Rodney Gibbins from the Office of Aboriginal Affairs and Rosemary Sandford from my office who have shown a very strong commitment on this issue and the ability to understand matters involved and to negotiate effective outcomes that all parties have supported.

I have often said that Tasmania has suffered from division for far too long. We are too small a community to be divided amongst ourselves. The longest standing and most fundamental source of this division is the unreconciled differences between the original inhabitants of our islands, with evidence of the longest continuous occupation on any land on this earth, and all the rest of us who, over the last 200 years have come too to love these islands and to call them home.

I hope that the transfer of Wybalenna to the Aboriginal community of Tasmania will be seen as a significant step in the years to come towards a better future for all Tasmanians. I want Tasmania to be known internationally as a community renowned for its acceptance of diversity - a community where the key values are tolerance and respect for each other.

I have great pleasure in moving the second reading of this bill. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr RUNDLE (Braddon - Leader of the Opposition) - Of course it goes without saying that the Opposition will be supporting this legislation and we congratulate the Government on bringing what the Premier has rightly described as years of negotiations to a conclusion by the symbolic act of passing over Wybalenna to the Aboriginal community. It is our hope that this symbolic act will be seen as a rallying point and a symbolic gesture that will enable true reconciliation of Europeans and the Aboriginal community, not only in the Furneaux Group and at Wybalenna but in Tasmania as a whole. While we do acknowledge there have been differing opinions on Flinders about this issue, I would hope that the ceremony conducted on that island a few weeks ago by the Premier and the Aboriginal community, and with members of the European community present, would be seen as a gesture to bring the island together and to resolve any historical differences that have existed.

I want to pay particular tribute to the former Premier, Ray Groom, who I can say from personal discussions that I had with him had a very genuine interest in trying to do something as a government to bridge that historic gap. It was not a political gesture, it was a genuine feeling that he had. I well remember going to what I regarded as a historic meeting at a venue in Hobart some years ago during the Groom Government when the members of the Liberal Government at that time met for many hours with the Aboriginal community and had a forum and a discussion to try to find out what the areas of difference were and to genuinely seek solutions to some of those problems. As I say, I well remember that afternoon, and the dialogue and the discussion that took place. We found it an uplifting experience and although there were differences - and it would be false to say that we left that particular meeting with all of those differences reconciled and without any outstanding issues - I think we started a step down the long path of reconciliation.

I pay tribute also to the former minister, Denise Swan, who I believe handled the portfolio intelligently and sensitively and, once again like the former Premier Ray Groom, held this portfolio with a very deep sense of responsibility and a desire to actually bring about positive outcomes. She of course had had many discussions that I believe would have helped bring about the successful handing over of Wybalenna. John Cleary also had discussions in the early days, and I acknowledge him. Of course Tony Fletcher was given the task by the Groom Government of liaison person, to talk and to negotiate and try to bring about understanding so that we could then move to make decisions that would bring the reconciliation progress along the path. Of course, as most people in this Parliament would know, that resulted in the management of many significant and historic sites, sites that are part of Aboriginal culture, being passed across to the community.

I would also acknowledge the Tasmanian Greens, Ms Putt and Christine Milne and others who have been consistent advocates of the Aboriginal cause in this place. There is no doubt about that. I think they demonstrated their credentials and commitment to this cause for all the years that I have been a member of this Parliament. And on the other side there have been people who have taken a special interest in reconciliation. John White has been mentioned and certainly he has, for all the years that I have been here, been a passionate and sincere advocate of reconciliation. So all of those people have worked; all of the political parties I believe have worked to try to bring about the conclusion that your Government was fortunate enough to put the final seal on, if you like, in the sense of Wybalenna, although there is more work to be done, as you have rightly said. That, I believe, is a good outcome. The legislation in the Parliament today of course places this into law and fixes up all of those administrative matters that go hand in hand with this.

During my term as Premier, of course, if we go back some time in history, I remember the historic occasion in this Parliament when as members we joined together - the Labor Party, the then Liberal Government, the Greens and the Independent, Bruce Goodluck - for the historic apology on behalf of European Tasmanians to Aboriginal people. I remember the crowded galleries here on that occasion; I remember when the vote was taken and the speeches had been made, the exuberance of the Aboriginal community and the loud and thunderous applause that took place when that symbolic act took place.

I began by congratulating the Government for bringing this to fruition. I conclude by endorsing those congratulations but I set the record straight on one small point and I do not belabour it. I would have liked our party to have been represented on that occasion for the handing over and I am sure the Greens would have felt likewise -

Mr Jim Bacon - It's on 18 April.

Mr RUNDLE - and maybe there were reasons why we could not have been there, but I place on the public record there would have been and was no intention on our part not to be there for any political purpose; we did not know of it and there was of course some criticism of us in the press and that is why I raise that, to put the record straight, that the criticism of this side of the House for not being there was unfounded and I put it no more strongly than that.

But I congratulate the Government, it is a fitting outcome. I look forward to our side of the House making a contribution to the legislation as it proceeds through the House and I know my colleague, Mrs Swan, will have things to say, as will other members.

Ms PUTT (Denison) - I would also like to begin by personally acknowledging the presence of Auntie Ida West in the Parliament, members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and the Mayor of Flinders Island's council, Lynn Mason.

I think it is going to be difficult to find words to express how significant this handing back of Aboriginal land to the Aboriginal people today is. Of course the people who deserve the most in terms of congratulations are the Aboriginal people and the Flinders Island community who have found a way to work through this to come to a resolution. We politicians are simply now putting in place the final bits in the puzzle that have really been worked on by those people in a very significant way over the most recent years.

I would like to put my comments in a context which is established by something written by Michael Mansell, and I quote -

'Aboriginal people, made up of a whole range of tribes, were one people. Although tribes each had their territorial boundaries respected by other tribes, the common national boundary of the collection of those tribes formed the continent now known as Australia. Some unilateral gesture of flag-planting by a ship-load of whites purporting to take from that nation of tribes their legal right over their territory are quite rightly rejected by Aborigines as being ridiculous. Given that Aborigines have not ceded title of Australia to whites, no agreements as to transfer of ownership constructed and notions of "peaceful settlement" trash-canned, any claim by whites over Australia can only be justified by the use of power, or the continued oppression of both Aboriginal people and their legitimate rights. Australia was invaded.

Claiming bona fide right to land today, whites are seen by Aborigines as receivers of stolen property.'

and so in that context, I say thank goodness we are giving this bit back because that is what it is about.

Wybalenna of course is a very affecting place and anybody who has been there, I think, cannot fail to have been touched by it. The sadness is so strong and so intense; the feeling, I think, invades any individuals who find themselves there. You begin to feel yourself that anguish that must have been experienced by the Aboriginal people who were removed to that location, knowing that they could not return to the land in Tasmania that they had come from; knowing that their responsibility to be in a custodial relationship to that land was being disrupted in the most violent of ways. To then have the illness and the death, the destruction of so much and so many people was, I think, one of the greatest tragedies that we have ever seen in Tasmania and I hope we never see anything as appalling again in this place.

It is significant for reconciliation that we hand this land back. It is also significant for reconciliation that an agreement has been reached that does acknowledge the interests of the non-Aboriginal inhabitants of Flinders Island as well.

When I first was elected as a member of the Parliament, in my inaugural speech the first thing I said was that I felt very strongly a sense of shame and an inability to hold my head up as a representative of Tasmanians for as long as we did not grant full and proper land rights to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people. I am really pleased that we are getting yet another further step down the road to where some of that sense of wrongs unrighted can finally be dispelled. It has been wonderful over recent years to see the changes begin to come and to see the Tasmanian community move towards reconciliation. I have taken great joy from seeing the Aboriginal flag fly over Parliament House on a number of occasions now where once the mere flying of that flag was some sort of scandal.

In respect of pursuing our obligations and reconciliation, one matter which was raised in the debate in this House when we apologised to the stolen generation was the matter of compensation to that generation. At that time the Labor Party supported the call for compensation although I do not think it was part of the Liberal government agenda. I would like to gently remind Labor today to revisit that issue and to see what we can progress in terms of compensation.

The last thing that I would like to do is to read a poem which is one of my favourites from Jim Everett. It was actually written about Oyster Cove, not Wybalenna, but I think when you hear it you will see that there is some significance in it that gives some of the feeling about that place and the importance of that place. It is called Spiritual Places .

There's just the trees and rocks and ground,

And maybe a creek come bubbling down.

The grass and flowers, the sky and clouds,

And sometimes the spirits in darkish shrouds,

A sacred place of all our ways,

Of all our spirits at this one place.

Yet over there, not far from here,

And yet even further in this sphere,

Are other sites our spirits dwell,

For all time our people's will.

But those who are not of our kind,

Who drain our knowledge with white minds

And take it all and give back nought

Yet call themselves the experts taught

Are thieves who take a heritage ours,

And twist it so we lose our powers.

So onward comes the desecration

Ruining the churches of our nation.

For to the whites they are resource,

With no spiritual sacred source.

But to us they're trees, rocks and ground,

With maybe a creek come bubbling down.

The grass and flowers, the sky and clouds

And sometimes the spirits in darkish shrouds.

I wholeheartedly support this legislation.

Mrs BLADEL (Franklin) - I too acknowledge the original owners of this land on which we have built and stand. I acknowledge the presence of Auntie Ida West, revered person to all Tasmanians I am sure. I also acknowledge the presence of the Mayor for Flinders Island and all those people who have worked so hard to bring about this very important day.

I think today we have to get the full significance of what is occurring here. We have to put it into a more historical context - and I hope that people will bear with me if I tend to do that. With regard to the movement of European habitation and European immigrants into Tasmania we speak of a settlement and a colony, but the Aboriginal people speak of an invasion and I think if we read discerning historians we will find that invasion is, in my opinion at least, nearer the truth.

If we look back to 1777 when there was one of the first recorded interactions between Europeans and the native peoples of Tasmania and look at Marion du Fresne, the French sea captain's diaries, he gives a picture of a very friendly and hospitable group of people with whom his sailors made contact, and it was a very pleasing scene. If we move on a little bit to the settlement - or the invasion, if you like - in what was to become Sydney, the first Governor, Arthur Phillip, was instructed in his orders from the British Colonial Office at the beginning of that settlement in 1788 to treat the people of the land with amity and kindness. Henry Reynolds - and I do not think you can get far without thinking of Henry Reynolds or quoting him - in his book Fate of a Free People - and I think that is a very significant title, a free people - observes that the British policy was, from the first instant, confused and contradictory. There was no provision made to purchase land and the policy of that governor and successive colonial governors shifted uneasily between protection and punishment of the indigenous peoples. It was only when Phillip himself was speared in the shoulder after some altercation that he turned towards punishment, he permitted retaliation. This sanction seemed to open the way for what was to become increasingly unrestrained violence to accompany the spread of settlement.

The contradictions between what the Colonial Office had stated as a policy towards Aboriginal people and the reality of life in the first colony of New South Wales and later in the colony of Van Diemens Land, those places so far from England, continued when Tasmania became increasingly occupied by further immigration, so there was a contradiction in what the British Government Colonial Office stated should be done and what was actually happening with people in the country.

In 1802 Lord Hobart, the Colonial Secretary, wrote to Phillip's successor, Governor King, expressing concern about the non-observance of the wise and humane instructions that he had given to King's predecessors and to the evils that were resulting from this neglect. He asks for a greater degree of forbearance and plain honest dealings with the Aboriginal people. What he was trying to achieve was an attempt to gain relief from the present dangerous embarrassment, and the embarrassment was caused by outbreaks of sporadic violence. No action was taken when soldiers fired on the Aborigines at Risdon Cove and we all know that story of a group of 100 to 150 people moving down the hill, women and children carrying green branches, singing and obviously off to a celebration and they were fired upon by the drunken louts who were in possession, while their commanding officer, a boy of eighteen was down exploring the Huon River.

Risdon Cove, therefore, was perhaps the first very sacred site when Aboriginal blood was spilt by European invaders. This was the site of the first massacre and the criminal behaviour of what the Aboriginal people could only construe as that of an invading force. David Collins came to take up his post as Lieutenant-Governor in Tasmania and he had written to the Colonial Office about the legal status of the Tasmanian people, the Aboriginal people, arguing that an official statement be issued placing the native inhabitants - and I am quoting here - 'under the protection of government' and declaring that any violence towards them or their property be treated the same as it would were it a white man. But despite this intention, there was no mention in the request for legal status that a treaty be sought and that the property to be respected included the land upon which Aboriginal people had lived or were living, were hunting or had hunted, and where they buried their dead.

Governor Davey who came along a little later was known in some circles as 'Mad Tom' and decried by the worthy inhabitants of the remnant settlement for his conviviality; cohabiting with convict women was one of the things that was levelled at him - actually he seems like a bit of jolly good fun to me but never mind. He issued a proclamation expressing his utter abhorrence and indignation about the kidnapping of Aboriginal children.

This was in about 1811, Governor Davey was noticing that Aboriginal children were already being kidnapped from the tribes, a practice that was apparently approved of by Bishop Knopwood. It was theorised about by later historians - and I refer to Michael Roe - as an attempt to set up a pool of black domestic servants and this was to take the shape of a society in Tasmania or in Van Diemens Land akin to that enjoyed by the plantation society of the southern states of America, that is a slave society with domestic servants being trained from these Aboriginal children who were kidnapped. Because the Tasmanian Aboriginal people had no real status under the law and their rights to their land was not acknowledged or respected, the violence towards them continued as the colony grew and spread.

I think we should all be aware, and I think we all are aware, of the atrocities that were dealt to the black people by the white interlopers. Grants of land given for pastoral or grazing purposes were systematically cleared of unwanted vegetation and of tribal groups. Alongside the unruliness of many of the settlers came condemnation of the violence towards the people of the land by Governor Arthur and also encouragement of missionaries' endeavours to try to civilise the country, for the Aborigines were beginning to organise resistance perhaps as a reaction to the depredations and cruelty against them by the bushranger bands that were particularly bothersome in the mid-1820s. They were so bothersome that for a while immigrants stopped coming to Van Diemens Land because the bushrangers seemed to be ruling the State, and there were many protests to the Colonial Office in London about them. Bushrangers were particularly savage and cruel to the Aboriginal people. Many atrocities have been recorded in the Hobart Town Gazette of the time. Settlers, particularly on the frontier - and the frontier at this time was Bothwell, which was very much perched on the edge of the wilderness, if you like - were exacting reprisals for Aboriginal incursions, and the incursions were spearing the occasional cattle or sheep and plundering a stockman's hut, and again there are many records of the wickedness of some of these reprisals.

The Black Wars were indeed just this: they were wars. They were wars by the white settlers, the white immigrants against the black indigenous people of this land, the owners of this land. And the black people were organised, and I am sure that many people in the Gallery today would know far more than I do about it. But they had leadership and they had strategies against which the Europeans seemed for a time to be utterly powerless, and what they were powerless against was the fighting of a guerilla war. It was a concept foreign to the British administration, and it finally brought about the imposition of martial law, and then the massive reprisal of the Black Line, which of course proved to be quite fruitless, but its intent was to round up the black people and put them into a corner of Tasmania. There is a wonderful statement in one of the archival documents of orders to the British Colonial Office to 'please send 2 000 shepherds' smocks and shepherds' crooks, because when the Aboriginal people are all pushed into one corner of the colony we are going to train them to look after the sheep'. This gives you an indication of how very far from reality the thinking was at the time, and any understanding of the people that they were dealing with.

The solution of offering Flinders Island as a country of their own to compensate for the ancient homelands which had been taken from them appealed to Governor Arthur, and it led to his appointment of a 41-year-old building contractor, George Augustus Robinson, to the post of intermediary with the Aboriginal people. Now George Augustus Robinson has been much written about in history, and the results of perhaps his wholehearted efforts to bring about some kind of settlement were the sad history that we all know about today. But I believe this is a history that must never be forgotten and must be seen in the context of an invaded land, the denial of an ancient culture and ancient customs, the struggles for a people to gain firstly recognition of their rights to use the land in the way that was traditional and age old, and perhaps even the first recognition that they were a people worthy to be dealt with on equal and legal terms. Then there was a struggle to gain the recognition of the decimation of their people by a predatory and ruthless race of people who raped their women, captured their women, turned them into a life of slavery and kidnapped their children.

Now the Premier has talked about genocide, and I think that is a fair statement, because if I could just read a petition that was put together by the inhabitants of Flinders Island, it was an attempt by the Aboriginal people to prevent the return to Flinders Island of the unpopular former superintendent, Dr Henry Jeanneret, who had been at Wybalenna between June 1842 and early 1844. He was dismissed because of his conduct, but then he was reinstated at the beginning of 1846, and I would like to read the petition in full into the record. It goes:
'The humble petition of the free Aborigines Inhabitants of Van Diemens Land now living upon Flinders Island ... That we are your free children that we were not taken prisoners but freely gave up our country to Colonel Arthur then the Governor after defending ourselves.'

They were not conquered. They traded. They were to be taken to Flinders Island for a time and then they were to be brought back to Tasmania. Now this never happened, of course. Well, it happened when there were so few of them that it did not matter.

'Your petitioners humbly state to Your Majesty that Mr Robinson made for us and with Colonel Arthur an agreement which we have not lost from our minds since and we have made our part of it good.

So we have kept our bargain, now you keep yours.

'Your petitioners humbly tell Your Majesty that when we left our own place we were plenty of people, but we are now but a little one.

Your petitioners state they are a long time at Flinders Island and had plenty of superintendents and were always a quiet and free people and not put into gaol.

Your Majesty's petitioners pray that you will not allow Dr Jeanneret to come again amongst us as our superintendent as we hear he is to be sent another time for when Dr Jeanneret was with us many moons he used to carry pistols in his pocket and threatened very often to shoot us and make us run away in a fright. Dr Jeanneret kept plenty of pigs in our village which used to run into our houses and eat up our bread from the fires and take away our flour bags in their mouths and also to break into our gardens and destroy our potatoes and cabbage.

Our houses were let fall down and they were never cleaned but were covered with vermin and not white-washed. We were often without clothes except a very little one and Dr Jeanneret did not care to mind us when we were sick until we were very bad. Eleven of us died when he was here. He put many of us into jail for talking to him because we would not be his slaves. He kept from us our rations when he pleased and sometimes he gave us bad rations of tea and tobacco. He shot some of our dogs before our eyes and sent all other dogs of ours to an island and when we told him that they would starve he told us they might eat each other.'

So much for protecting the property and possessions of these people that were the first instructions to the first governors.

'He put arms into our hands and made us to assist his prisoners to go to fight' -

his prisoners are convicts -

'to go to fight the soldiers we did not want to fight the soldiers but he made us go to fight. We never were taught to read or write or to sing to God by the doctor. He taught us a little upon the Sundays and his prisoner servant also taught us and his prisoner servant also took us plenty of times to jail by his orders.

The Lord Bishop seen us in this bad way and we told His Lordship plenty how Dr Jeanneret uses us.

We humbly pray Your Majesty the Queen will hear our prayer and not let Dr Jeanneret any more to come to Flinders Island.'

And it was signed by Walter G. Arthur, Chief of the Ben Lomond tribe; John Allen; Davey Bruny; Neptune; King Alexander; Augustus; King Tippo and Washington.

That is a terrible document because it speaks not only of the suffering of these people but of the betrayal of them by the authorities.

Mr Speaker, this history of the struggle still continues; this legislation is a landmark. I know it means a great deal to all those people in the Tasmanian Aboriginal community who have patiently pursued their objectives for retrieval of a very sacred place, Wybalenna. It is also the history of fair and honest dealings that were first instructed to the original invaders of this land by the people of Flinders. At Wybalenna it is said for the spiritually attuned people, it is possible to feel the grief and to hear the voices and cries of those whose last sad days were spent there in exile and betrayal.

The Premier has mentioned the people who have tried over many years to achieve today's historic act and I just want to mention the people I know in the Labor Party who have not been mentioned and are too numerous to mention anyway, but should deserve a feeling of satisfaction that after all the debating, the pleading, the arguing in conferences and around policy tables, this day has finally come. It has overcome the refusal and the resistance to recognise the prior rights of ownership and the rights of a free people to have an expression of their freedom in this historic place to be returned to them. Returned, it should never have been taken.

It is the rights of the people who were never conquered but were often betrayed. As we move in towards the new century and hopefully a republic, I hope that we will find that a new flag for our country under that republic will contain not just the Southern Cross but the proud black, red and gold of the Aboriginal nation.

Mrs SWAN (Lyons) - I would also like to commence by acknowledging the presence of Auntie Ida and the Mayor of Flinders Island Council, Mayor Lynn Mason, Michael Mansell I can see in the audience and also members of the Aboriginal community from the State and Flinders Island.

Today is of course a significant day. It is also quite a moving day for me as the former minister in this area because it is an area in which we negotiated over a long period of time to bring this particular event to culmination. And I do indeed congratulate the Government on their achievement on this particular day.

Mr Speaker, few people in Tasmania would not have heard of Wybalenna, few would not understand the implications of the name and all that that means in the history of the Aboriginal people of this State. Perhaps, above all sites, Wybalenna represents the apex of the tragedy brought on the Aboriginal community as a result of white settlement.

I have just recently been reading the book by N.J. Plomley and his work ' Weep in silence ' where he describes in great detail the day-to-day activities of the settlement at Wybalenna and all that that entailed. It does seem clear from his account that sadly this particular exploit started with the best of intent, that the view of both Governor Arthur and George Robinson seemed to have been imbued with some genuine concern for the Aboriginal community. However, by a series of mismanaged decisions and ineptitude, by the squabbling of the officers on the island and the squabbling that then went on between those officers and the governing authorities here in the State of Tasmania, the entire settlement fell into disrepair.

It seems that Robinson's initial 'friendly mission' was designed of course, as we know, to convert the Aboriginal people to the ways of white civilisation. Such was their understanding that they believed that theirs was the only way to follow and that the Aboriginal people would of course welcome the opportunity to change their ways and join the particular culture that was being offered to them by the Europeans. I imagine that they were somewhat surprised when they found that that in fact was not the view of the Aboriginal community at all, that they had a proud and long tradition and a civilisation and culture of their own that they wished to persist.

They of course fought against all odds to retain at least some part of that culture. We understand that they carried out their traditional practices of weaving baskets and making shell necklaces. They tried to hunt, they kept up the ceremony of dance and of the decoration of their bodies. They tried against all odds to prevent themselves from being converted into a culture that they found unfamiliar and not necessary to their way of life. Of course, later we recognised that it was not indeed necessary to their way of life it simply appeared to be in the eyes of the authorities at that stage necessary for them to meet with some success. As I say, not surprisingly little came of it because they rebelled, not unnaturally, and the white authorities then began to despair that they would not convert as they wished they had been able to in the beginning.

A series of events overtook them and, as we know from the records, mismanagement lead to a poor supply of food, often the ships failed to come properly provisioned. There was initially a very poor water supply that was brackish and that was never ever redressed and indeed the European civilisation brought with it the ravages of disease and the Aboriginal population fell to the disease that was brought to them when they were moved to the site at Wybalenna. Thus it was that something that had begun with the greatest of good hope fell into disrepute, mismanagement and ultimately absolute tragedy.

I think that there are some words that I have found in Plomley's records that explain it a little better or at least have an inflection of what must have been felt. He says that a settlement begun in hope and with good intent turned into the tragedy of the extirpation of Aboriginal culture on the island and their deaths from the ravages of European disease. Robinson, who of course, was held in some regard at that stage, left for Port Phillip taking many of the younger and stronger people of the community with him. Thus it was that they were left in the hands of the very person that they feared most of all and that was a Doctor Walsh who had so mismanaged their health during all the times that they had been subjected to the diseases that had been brought in by the outside community.

However, the community itself became a particularly sad area and in the long run it was like as Plomley says -

'an unwound clock that ran down, deteriorated and finally became a ghost-like presence on the landscape of Pea Jacket Point' -

which, of course as we know, is at the end of what we now call Lillies Beach.

Of that first group or of the total group of over 150 Aborigines who were sent, by 1847 only 47 remained and, as the Premier earlier indicated, the small and sad community was then removed to Oyster Cove where they spent the rest of their lives affected by drink and a desperation that came with the lack of purpose and the sadness that had accompanied what they must have seen as the very end of all the people in civilisation that they knew on that island. That has to mark this particular occasion with a great sense of sadness and history.

I know that all of us who have walked on that land at Wybalenna cannot fail to feel that particular feeling. I know that my colleague, Peg Putt, has made comment about that matter and I too in visiting the island to witness the signing of the heads of agreement that had been achieved between the Flinders Island Council and the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association walked on that land at that time for the first time. I have to say that while initially it seemed to me to be a simple scene of rolling hills going down to the waterfront with a homestead not unlike many farming homesteads around this State, once I began to walk on the land there was an entirely different feeling and I think all of us who have been there have felt that particular feeling of anguish, of presence of history and that, of course, is what we are talking about this very day.

I think that the concept that we are talking about here, of course, is reconciliation. Moves have been made during past governments, and during the Government of my colleague, Ray Groom, there was strong work done with tripartite support from the Labor Party, from the Greens and, of course, the Government itself, in order to achieve some steps along the way to progress what we regarded as a very poor situation in the relationship that was then marked between the European and Aboriginal people of this island or these islands.

Thus it was, of course, that my colleague set in motion the Aboriginal Lands Act which was in itself a landmark decision because it transferred twelve symbolic sites across to the Aboriginal people and gave it into their tenure in perpetuity to be managed by the Aboriginal Lands Council. The thirteenth and perhaps the most significant site - that may be argued - but the most significant site in my view because of what it represented in the treatment given out many years ago by the European community to the Aboriginal community was Wybalenna and Wybalenna of course was not achieved at that time; it was still necessary to persist with a number of negotiations in order to bring that to culmination. As I have said earlier, part of that was the negotiation between the Flinders Island Council and the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association and then during my period, after I had witnessed that historic agreement between those two groups, there was the bringing together of the entire Aboriginal community of Tasmania so that it could in fact be governed under the legislation that had been set up for these historic sites and that of course is the Aboriginal Lands Act of Tasmania.

So it is with a particular feeling of delight and history that I acknowledge what has been done to this date. As I say, I congratulate the Government for having achieved this particular significant step. I have been most pleased to have been involved in the negotiations that I think have played a part in leading to this conclusion. It is nothing more than appropriate.

In concluding, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would simply like to make some comments with regard to reconciliation as a whole. I know that a number of the officers, particularly the Manager of the Office of Aboriginal Affairs, Rod Gibbins, would understand that I had only one variation in view and that was the view with regard to the cemetery where I believed there was a possibility of tenancy in common or joint tenancy over that particular area of land. That in fact I think has been addressed in some measure by the joint authority for management or the joint management principles that I understand will be employed in the day-to-day management of this land which I am delighted to see come to fruition. I understand that there will be representation from the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association, which is absolutely appropriate, and it will be under their chairmanship. There will be representation, I understand, from the mainland Aboriginal community and also from the Flinders Island Council. I think in the ability to keep those groups together so that they can in fact be involved in an ongoing management project with respect to this land we have achieved a landmark in what is reconciliation because we need, I believe, to be reminded in an ongoing sense of how we need to work together as communities in order to make this whole object of reconciliation successful.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to conclude with some words that were quoted by Auntie Ida and I think that they in fact describe the situation perfectly. In all my dealings with Auntie Ida she understood absolutely what was necessary in this instance. She understood the meaning of forgiveness and of apology and she understood always what was necessary for both communities to work together. I honour the particular words that she always said to me and her attitude throughout that whole negotiation process and I hope that we continue to remember what she said. For the purposes of the record I will put these words on the Hansard because they are important. We need to remember them and I think they properly describe what we are all aiming to achieve with the process of reconciliation:

'This has put to rest the ghosts. It is good for black and white people. No one is blaming anyone, all this was done many years ago.

We have to go to bad places to try to heal and you must do the healing and it takes all colours to do it.'

Mr GROOM (Denison) - I welcome the chance to speak in this historic debate. I am sorry I missed the earlier speeches but certainly the last two speakers have summed up the position very well indeed with very feeling contributions.

There is that Great South Land, Australia, and below that the small south land we call Tasmania. I have always believed or for a long, long time that the worst aspect of the history of our nation and the history of the island of Tasmania has been the treatment of the Aboriginal people. It has been a very sad history for our Aboriginal community and a great tragedy and I do not wish to go into all aspects of that. But it is important that we go as far as we possibly can to redress the wrongs that have occurred. You can never turn back history completely; and that is not possible, but there are things that we can do and I believe that we should do.

I have been very pleased in a small way to be part of the process and I know many others have played just as important if not more important roles than I have played in the process. I particularly congratulate the Government for this particular step, the way they have carried it through very effectively and very quickly I believe is a very good thing indeed and I know the Aboriginal community will agree that that was a good step because we have had this great clash of cultures and nowhere is it more evident than at Wybalenna if you look at the history of that small area of land on Flinders Island. It is a very historic moment indeed when this particular bill passes this place and no doubt will pass the whole Parliament.

I just make the point also that I believe very much that we are a multicultural society. There are people on my side of politics who do not necessarily agree with that but I do believe if you are to understand the nature of our country and our island of Tasmania these two issues are fundamental. One is the treatment of the Aboriginal people and their present plight and problems - and many of those are still very practical problems; and secondly, the nature of our society at the present time.

When Europeans came here we overwhelmed a very historic and very rich culture through the force of numbers and other forces and actions that occurred at that particular time. I was pleased when Premier to be involved in what was a very interesting exercise when we had a meeting of our full Cabinet and members of the Aboriginal community in a forum. It took place at the Wrest Point Hotel where everyone came along and I believe on that occasion as a result of the discussions that took place throughout that day that many members of our then Cabinet and the Government of our State of Tasmania had a much better understanding, almost seeing some of the issues through Aboriginal eyes, understanding the problems. I think if you really do understand the depth of concern and the terrible things that have happened you have to look at these issues from the perspective of an Aboriginal person living in Tasmania at the present time. I think we did gain a great deal from that.

I would like to just acknowledge the efforts by the elders of the community. When you mention names you miss people out and there are people no doubt who have passed on who have played a very big part in all of this that Auntie Ida has mentioned but there are others in the community, elders who have fought very hard about these things for a long time. Rodney Gibbins, I found when I was involved in the issue and trying to do my best, was a very enthusiastic worker for the cause but also looked at it I think very reasonably and gave very sound advice. Michael Mansell, who I have worked with very closely -

Mr Hidding - He's up there.

Mr GROOM - He is up there. When we had the forums right around the State Michael was very much involved and worked very hard to help achieve the end result, which might be a small one in a total historic context but nevertheless a very significant one - more than symbolic, I think, in a real sense.

There are a lot of people. John White is not here at the moment but he has certainly fought very hard for it for a long time and he has been a bit crabby with me at times when I have been involved but he certainly has fought very hard for it and others on the government side.

Ms Putt - Lance Armstrong.

Mr GROOM - Lance Armstrong. All parties have been involved in this issue and have worked very hard indeed for it but the total Aboriginal community have worked hard. I commend Lynn Mason and the council on Flinders Island for the approach they have adopted. I can recall going to a meeting with the council and I found that their attitude was extremely fair, understanding and responsible and they have played a major part in bringing this all about.

I must make a brief comment about John Elliott's comments. I will just say I am very pleased that Syd Jackson straightened John Elliott out on his remarks -

Members laughing.

Mr GROOM - because one thing about if you are playing sport, playing footy - Australian Rules football particularly - you are playing with Aboriginal players all the time. You get to know them as mates, you work hard with them, play hard with them -

Mr Jim Bacon - And you cannot catch them.

Mr GROOM - And you cannot catch them because they are so skilful and so fast, they have a certain pace about them and dash in and out all the time. But frankly, Elliott's comments did a disservice to that great game of Australian Rules football, quite apart from a disservice to the great community of Aboriginal people we have in this country of ours. I know he has apologised after Syd Jackson had a few quiet words with him but no doubt others will have a few quiet words with him as well because John Elliott has to live in the 1990s and hopefully he might be relevant to the next millennium but we have come a long way in the last twenty or thirty or forty years in this country and those sort of remarks might reflect the feelings of a very small minority in our community but they are very hurtful to many people and I just hope that they will not be repeated.

I congratulate everyone involved, I think it is a great thing when we debate these important issues. To be quite frank, I would say this too: the Aboriginal Lands Act and this act are probably the two most significant pieces of legislation in a real historic sense that we have had probably forever in our State, if you look at the total historic aspect of what the island of Tasmania is and has been over many thousands of years. This one is a big step forward and I congratulate the Government for bringing this legislation forward.

Mrs NAPIER (Bass - Deputy Leader of the Opposition) - I would just make a few comments in endorsing the comments thus far made. I am delighted that members of the Aboriginal community and Auntie Ida are here with us, but particularly also representatives of the Flinders Island community and council, with Lynn Mason and others, because I know this really has been a matter of reconciliation with all colours, quite truly needing to be able to deal with the attitudinal changes, the understanding of whence we come and where we might go but in a sense also coming to terms with how differences of view have emerged in the past but how we might find a better agreed and mutual pathway to the future.

I have been to Flinders Island and to Wybalenna a number of times, probably more times privately than I had in my official capacity in visiting Wybalenna. I can remember being back there in the 1970s when I went over there with a group of young student teachers from the Launceston Teachers College. Wybalenna was a place where we spent a little time, I suppose the Aboriginal community might say that we were not there officially. That is probably very true, but at the time we spent quite a deal of time - each one of us had been researching as much as we could what we knew about Wybalenna and the background behind the action that Robinson took and also what might have occurred upon this site.

From that point of view I was very conscious of the divergence of views on Aboriginality within the whole community, let alone within the Flinders Island community. The debate about whether there was such a person as a Tasmanian Aborigine, just in the 1970s, was a really strong debate at the time. Also I remember an education curriculum that was devised and was initially piloted on Flinders Island in order to be able to assist to bring together the divergent views that the white community and members of the Aboriginal community had about how we might better deal with those fairly racist views, I suppose, that many of us held, be it explicitly or implicitly in coming to terms with our own attitudes, whether we were conscious of them or not.

As we were there, it again proved to be a windswept site. I have seen much of the writing that goes on about Wybalenna which is often referred to as a windswept site. It certainly was, I can assure you at the time that I was first there. But I have also been there on beautiful days of tranquillity, and I agree with the speakers who have already spoken that as you are filled with a greater understanding - and I am sure there are many gaps in my understanding of it even now - as you try to learn more about the background of what happened and why and then apply that to try and get a better understanding of how the white community has impacted upon the Aboriginal race and how we developed as a community since, I think certainly Wybalenna was significant in my mind because it was a physical reminder of the clashes that had occurred within the community.

I know we can talk of sites in Port Sorell, we can talk of Sarah Island, we can talk of Risdon Cove and the many other points that people would identify; up in the far north-west coast where great tragedies occurred as well, or even to Aboriginal communities I know that were up in the back of Sheffield, my own home country, but Wybalenna was a physical reminder of the very sad events by which 250 were reduced to 44. In a sense those people died in exile just in a relatively short period of time between 1832 and 1847.

In that sense I am quite delighted that this has been brought to a successful resolution; I thank everyone who has been involved in this over the years and even most recently for bringing this to a final conclusion. In particular I would thank the members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and their supporters for their patience in leading us through, I suppose, a better understanding of the issues. Certainly for me, the opportunity to meet with the Aboriginal community when Ray Groom was Premier was a very significant point, from my own personal experience, but also to know that in the short period of time that I have been in Parliament, at least I have been able to be part of the Aboriginal Lands Act in 1995.

I remember the debates we had about access to fishing and other natural access rights in terms of how they applied to the Fisheries Act and so on. There was many a discussion out there in the corridor to see if we could find a way to keep them moving. The apology by the whole of the Tasmanian Parliament to the stolen generation I think was a good indication of how on matters relating to issues associated with the Aboriginal people there has been a tripartite approach. I think it is really important to maintain that, because there is already enough divisiveness within this community without exacerbating that and without politicising that.

So in the context of this next step in the handing over of the title of Wybalenna and therein the management of that, I am really quite delighted that we have reached this point. I am pleased to see that in the spirit of that reconciliation cooperation, the local management committee for the cemetery, the original agreement is going to be honoured, and I think that really augurs well for continuing and enhancing the understanding.

I would particularly like to put on the record the work of what I think are some really effective councillors in the Flinders Island Council. I will not name people, but there are two of them here. There is also a bunch of pretty powerful ladies over there who I think make a real difference, in Helen and Shirley and Lynn. Put those three together and you have really got a powerhouse. But I think it has been really good the way in which the Flinders Island Council has worked with the community to try and assist in that change and assist in that mutual understanding. I know there are still some people on the island who are less than happy, and I guess that was always going to be so - we are all human and some of us take a little longer than others sometimes to get to a particular point - but I really do pay tribute to the Flinders Island Council and councillors, to their staff, but also to the whole Flinders Island community, because I think you have really shown great leadership in the way in which you have patiently worked through to this particular point.

And from that point of view, although we were initially a little shocked, I suppose, and certainly very disappointed that we could not be there for the handover of Wybalenna, we became aware that the elder, Ruby Roughley, was very ill, and we understood in that context why it was brought forward. We were very sad to see that she has passed away, but we were quite delighted in that sense that she could be there for the celebration and for that handover. But I guess I would just make the point that we would really have been delighted to be there just to stand in the background and really just to be pleased that the handover had occurred in the spirit of reconciliation and also in the spirit of ensuring that we maintain a tripartite approach and that spirit of reconciliation. This is just a stepping point and a marking point in terms of the further steps that will occur as we recognise the Aboriginal people, but also ensure that we are truly multicultural in the context of our attitude as well as our practices.

Dr MADILL (Bass) - Madam Deputy Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the Government on its actions culminating in bringing this bill into this Parliament today, which I have no doubt will very soon become an act. I would like to totally support the words of the Premier, and in particular in his generous acknowledgment of all the people who have taken part in the development of the reconciliation process in Tasmania to the stage that it has now reached. I will not hold the House to mention them all again, except for one or two.

I came from Victoria over thirty years ago with virtually no knowledge of Tasmania and particularly no knowledge of the indigenous people here except for the then prevalent view that there were no Aborigines left in Tasmania, and it is something that I learnt a little bit of slowly over quite a period. It was not until I came into the Parliament that I started to hear from the members here, from members of the Aboriginal community as I moved around them in my work in the electorate, what the true and terrible story of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people's history in the last 200 years really was. It was in fact the action of the then Premier, Ray Groom, to bring his entire Cabinet to a whole-day meeting with representatives of the Aboriginal community in, I think, 1994 or 1995, that had a very significant impact on me, and I think on all those who were in my position and who had not really sat and thought long and hard about the entire issue. I do not remember the date but I certainly remember the day and its contents quite vividly. There was an absolute determination on Ray Groom's part that every one of his Cabinet be there, that everything else be put aside and that we sit down with the various representatives who wanted to speak to the particular ministers and we sit there and go through for however long it took on whatever issues they wanted. I certainly not only learnt a great deal but was particularly impressed with the need for us to commit ourselves individually as well as a community to the reconciliation process and then of course it was followed up with the very significant act of bringing in and passing the Aboriginal Lands Act.

It is interesting that the Police flag is flying over this Parliament and that was said to be a precedent that no other flag has. In fact the Aboriginal flag was flown over the Parliament on the day of that conference between the Cabinet and the Aboriginal community as a mark of the importance and that, I believe, was the first time that any other flag flew over this Parliament. The Aboriginal flag flew again over this Parliament on the very historic day of the apology here in this House which has been referred to by previous speakers.

All of this Mr Speaker and all of the comments that have gone before show to me very clearly that the pace and the understanding of reconciliation in Tasmania has been relatively great in the last ten to fifteen years, that great progress has been made and this bill before this Parliament today is very tangible evidence of that great progress.

However, I think we would be wrong to believe that this fixes it all in this particular area. There will still be people who will be unhappy or disagree with this and part of the reconciliation process, the ongoing process, is to make sure that we bring everybody into the process, everybody, that those who still have concerns are still talked with and brought along with this process that now is, I think, quite clearly an immovable force in our community.

It is not a process that this particular act of this Parliament will finish. It is a very important one, it is a very symbolic one but it still means that there is work to be done and I am absolutely confident when I hear the Premier today outline his Government's position on this and the other speakers who have spoken here and knowing the efforts that people outside this Parliament have put in and continue to put in to advance reconciliation in Tasmania. I believe that this process will continue. I certainly think that the words of Ida West, affectionately Auntie Ida West, that my colleague, the former minister, Denise Swan read into the Hansard will be words that will always be associated with this act and this stage of reconciliation here. They are such important words: No one is blaming anyone, all this was done many years ago, we all must do the healing. These are absolute truths in any reconciliation process, particularly this reconciliation process and her words will stand with this very important act that we will pass in this Parliament at this time.

Mr JIM BACON (Denison - Premier) - Madam Deputy Speaker, can I firstly thank all of those members who have spoken in support of this legislation. In particular can I acknowledge, as I did in the second reading speech but now the member for Denison, Mr Groom, the former Premier is present and he, I think, as has been explained in various speeches in the House, took the initiative if you like after a lengthy period of lack of progress in these areas.
As I said in the second reading speech, I do agree with Professor Henry Reynolds that our governments are the direct successors of the colonial governors of the 1830s. I think that it would be correct to say that a more enlightened attitude from government towards dealing with issues with the Aboriginal community has commenced. Whilst there were certainly supporters and there was an attempt to pass legislation - in fact it did pass this House in 1990 or 1991 but was defeated in another place, I think - the significance of the Premier of the day, Ray Groom, himself taking responsibility and initiative is consistent with the point I am making now, that I think our Government and the heads of government need to be involved in these issues - which is not in any way to denigrate the efforts of others and, as I said in the second reading speech of the former minister, Mrs Swan.

I thank everyone for their comments and their support and I think it is a fact which the occasional visitors like those who are here today - perhaps they think that this Parliament always operates on a basis with a fair degree of unity and even some interesting speeches but equally I am sure they know enough about Parliament to know that that is not always the case. But, I think one of the most constructive and positive debates that I have taken part in in this House since I have been a member in 1996, which was after the introduction of the Groom government act, was the apology to the stolen generation when, for the first time ever, ordinary citizens - if I can say it that way but in fact representatives of the Aboriginal community - actually spoke at the Bar of the House. Today's debate, I think, is of much higher quality than frankly much of the proceedings in this place. It has certainly been, as I said at the outset, an honour to have been able to be in the position to bring this forward, fully recognising that my role in this has been extremely minor and many others previously and in the last few months have actually done the work.

I just wanted to respond to two issues that have been raised and firstly to explain that when I made the announcement of Wybalenna recently that in fact was not a hand-over ceremony and for various reasons those involved, not just the Government, felt that it was important that the arrangements be made in the way they were. There was certainly no intention to exclude anyone for any purpose other than people's desire to see the announcement proceed smoothly and in accordance with the plan. I really would like to say to members opposite that as soon as I saw the item in the Sunday Examiner which was highly critical and quite falsely highly critical of members opposite for not being there, I instructed my staff to contact the journalist to rectify the understanding of the issue. I understand that has been done but I do repeat that this was not a hand-over ceremony. In fact plans are well under way for a hand-over ceremony in the sense of handing the titles over following successful passage of the bill through the Parliament for 18 April 1999. We certainly would be most anxious to see members from the Liberal Opposition and the Greens member of the House and those members of the Legislative Council who can make the trip to Flinders Island, though I am told that planes are booking out fast because there are quite a large number of representatives of the Aboriginal community of course who wish to be there.

I think this is a very good thing that the planes are booking out, Lynn, and any other Flinders Island people who are here, because some of us will have to come earlier so we can actually stay and have a few days on Flinders beforehand. I hope that I fall into that category; unfortunately I think it is probably doubtful. I just urge all members that certainly they will be most welcome at the ceremony on 18 April 1999. We are certainly aware of and very happy about the fact that so many members of the Aboriginal community wish to be there. I am sure that following the letter that Mayor Mason has hand delivered to me today indicating the strong support of the council for this legislation and also indicating that the council has received correspondence from the Aboriginal Land Council inviting discussions, this will really set off the next step of this process. I am sure that there will be a lot of non-Aboriginal residents of Flinders Island who will want to be there as well and I certainly hope that as many of the rest of us who support this from whichever island we live on in Tasmania - and that is the only quibble I have with the former Premier, Ray Groom: that we are not an island State, we are an archipelago of 334 islands, all the way from the Furneaux Group and King Island to Macquarie and Heard islands.

Mr Hidding - It doesn't really have the same ring about it, does it?

Mr JIM BACON - No, but nevertheless it is true.

Mr Hidding - Only a Victorian could bring that up.

Mr JIM BACON - I am not going to hold the House up with a debate about how many islands. But there are many islands and there are a number of them populated and I think we should always recognise the fact that there is more than one island in Tasmania. However, that was not the point I was going to make. I hope that people from wherever they live in Tasmania who wish to be there to indicate their support for reconciliation and for this particular decision will all make the trip to Flinders to be at Wybalenna on 18 April so that in an appropriate ceremony and with support from all sides of politics, and I hope many other representatives of the Aboriginal and the non-Aboriginal community, we can see a very good turnout there.

I just say finally in relation to the issue that the member for Denison, Ms Putt, raised about compensation, in fact in the second reading speech you will recall that I said that we have established a working party chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Justice and Industrial Relations, Richard Bingham, which includes also Rodney Gibbins and other government representatives as well as representatives of the Aboriginal community. That working party has been charged with addressing all outstanding issues - I repeat, all outstanding issues - between the Aboriginal community and the Government.

Of course that does not mean that everything will be automatically agreed to immediately, but it is a commitment by my Government that this legislation today is the start, it is not the finish, and we will certainly continue to work with the Aboriginal community to take other steps. There are also a number of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which have not been fully implemented in Tasmania and we are addressing those. There is also the question of other land as well as the question you raised. So nothing is off the agenda of that working group and the Aboriginal community have certainly been informed in a meeting directly with me that they are free to bring whatever issue they wish to that working party and the working party and the government representatives on it have the responsibility of reporting to me on discussions that are held and possible solutions to issues that are raised.

This will be the start and not the end but in the meantime, Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank all members for their support. I again thank everybody who has been involved, particularly those from the Aboriginal community who, going back over generations, have kept the flame alive, kept their hopes alive and finally I hope now over the years ahead we can genuinely live together all as Tasmanians.

Bill read the second time.